Nature journaling is a centuries-old method of recording thoughts and observations about the natural world. It typically involves observing something in nature, such as a plant, animal or landscape, and drawing or writing about it in a dedicated sketchbook or journal.
A photo taken by the author during a nature walk. Although nature journals are thought of as the tools of naturalists and scientists, they can help everyone experience the natural world in a creative and meaningful way. By observing, recording and reflecting on your surroundings, you can develop a deeper connection with nature and a better understanding of the natural world. 
Nature journaling can also serve as a springboard to other satisfying activities like nature walks, wildlife watching, citizen science, poetry, painting and travel sketching.
Nature Journaling Tips 
Nature journaling is an excellent way to strengthen your observation skills and learn about something new. As you observe objects in nature, ask questions about what you see. What is it? How does it work? Why is it unusual? Where is it? When will it change? Write down the questions or answers in your nature journal to enhance your memory and make a record of the observation.
Try to depict textures, tastes, sounds and scents you experienced in addition to drawing or describing what you saw.
You can also use nature journaling to reflect on your experiences and express your creativity. As you study something in nature, think about how it makes you feel and then express your feelings through drawing, painting, poetry, prose, scientific notes or even just a list of words (amazed, enchanted, delighted). 
It can be tempting to focus only on what you see when making entries in your nature journal. Instead, try to depict textures, tastes, sounds and scents you experienced in addition to drawing or describing what you saw. This will help you immerse yourself in your surroundings and portray the whole multi-sensory experience in your journal entry.

The most important thing to remember when nature journaling is perfection doesn't matter. A nature journal is meant to be a record of your time in nature, not an award-winning work of art. Many of your sketches won't come out the way you planned, but that's okay. 
Daily weather entries from the author's nature journalIt is better to focus on what you draw and write rather than how you draw and write. Getting your observations, thoughts, and feelings down on paper is more important than pretty pictures, flawless penmanship or perfect spelling.
Nature Journaling Materials 
One of the best things about nature journaling is that there is no right or wrong way to do it. You can use whatever materials work best for you. Many people start small with just a pencil and a sketchbook. Other common nature journaling materials include pens, colored pencils, markers, watercolors, rubber stamps, glue sticks, magazine clippings and pressed flowers.
Additional supplies can also be helpful, depending on the topic of your nature journal. For example, binoculars and magnifying tools can help you get a closer look at wildlife; field guides can help you identify birds, plants and insects; and measuring tools can help you quantify observations and represent proportions and scale.

Technology and apps can also help you navigate the natural world and create journal entries. Cameras are great for capturing an image of a landscape or organism you'd like to study later. Mobile phones and other devices work well for recording sound or video that can be analyzed later. Free apps can help you learn more about what you see or experience outdoors.
The Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology identifies birds based on descriptions, photos or sounds.The Seek app created by iNaturalist uses image recognition technology to locate and identify wildlife, plants and fungi.The Windy app provides detailed local weather forecasts and worldwide wind reports for outdoor enthusiasts.Nature Journal Prompts 
The following journal prompts for nature walks, birdwatching, daily weather observations, backyard gardening and other everyday activities can help you get started on your nature journal.
A nature journal is meant to be a record of your time in nature, not an award-winning work of art. 
Take a nature walk. Enjoy the sights, sounds and smells as you walk down your chosen trail. Identify interesting discoveries along the way. Then, draw a map of your route and note where each discovery was located. Use drawings, text-based labels or embellishments (like magazine clippings or stickers) to represent each item, animal, place or moment.Sit at a window overlooking a bird feeder or find a comfortable spot outside and watch birds. Identify them by name if you can. Listen to the sounds they are making. Then, focus on just one bird. Draw the bird, using as much detail as you can. Listen to the bird's song. Is it loud, barely audible or high-pitched? Does it sound like a buzz, whistle or trill? Use thick, thin, straight, sloping and wavy lines to create a sound diagram representing the song.A map from the author's nature journalSpend 5-10 minutes each day outside or at a window observing the weather. Then, record the weather conditions in your nature journal. Note the temperature and humidity, the amount of cloud cover, the wind speed, the presence or lack of precipitation and any other observations you make. Then, make notes about the impact of changing weather patterns on you or the environment.Grow a plant in your window, on your patio or in a garden bed. Use text and drawings to record its progress in your nature journal. Note its size, shape, scent, texture and color. Identify any insects or other organisms that interact with the plant. Compare the plant's journey to a journey you experienced in your life.  Select a natural object, such as a leaf, flower, rock or pinecone. Study it, and determine what color it is. Be specific. The object may seem green at first, but upon further examination, you may notice many different types of green — from light green to forest green. Then, use colored pencils, crayons, markers or watercolors to represent the colors of the object in your journal.Find something that interests you in nature. Write down what you know about it. Then, create a list of things you would like to know. Use your questions to guide future nature observations.

Using a Nature Journal To Connect With Your Surroundings

Anna Champagne

"Heavy Metal Parking Lot" is a time machine that works for 15 minutes.
The documentary, filmed on the last day of May in 1986, consists of brief interviews with exuberant and largely inebriated adolescent fans outside the Capital Centre arena in Landover, Maryland, before a show by the English heavy metal band Judas Priest.
What ensues is a whirlwind of sight and sound — kids from Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia doing and saying crazy things for a camera whose presence they were clearly not accustomed to in daily life.
Nearly 40 years later, the film, which circulated widely as a bootleg during the 1990s before becoming an internet staple in the 21st century, offers a unique window into the 1980s metal subculture and remains absolutely hilarious.
Teenage Id Unleashed
Stars of the film include "Zebraman," a vulgar young fella in a black-and-white, zebra-print catsuit. After declaring "Heavy metal rules!" he shares vulgar personal views on other music of the day: "All that punk s— sucks. It doesn't belong in this world. It should be on f——g Mars." He was equally vulgar and disdainful of Madonna.
"It was a carefree time in our lives, no responsibilities."
"Graham" is another fan favorite. A shirtless teenager holding a bottle of beer, he tells the interviewer that his name is "Graham, like gram of dope." Graham then calls for the legalization of narcotics and the construction of a joint that stoners can hold from coast to coast in the fashion of "Hands Across America," a one-day stunt earlier in the month to raise money for hungry families.
A redhaired young woman known as "Glen Burnie Girl" is another scene stealer. After announcing that she's from the Baltimore suburb, she answers several questions with enthusiastic "Hell yeahs." When asked about Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, she intones that she'd like to "jump his bones" in a quintessential "Bawlmer" accent, elongating and shifting vowels without mercy.
A Cultural Mirror
For millions of people now in their 50s and early 60s, the parking lot scene that co-directors John Heyn and Jeff Krulik captured is instantly relatable.
"I think the reason the film has such staying power is that so many people can relate to this," Krulik said. "You were either at that concert or sat next to somebody in homeroom who was."
"It was a carefree time in our lives, no responsibilities," said Eileen Zelaya, who appears in the film. She was 18 at the time and attended the show with her friend Kelly. The pair remain close.
Eileen delivers one of the classic lines of the film. When asked what she's drinking, Eileen says "Jack Daniels and Coke, what else?" Zelaya grew up in Rockville, Maryland, listening to everything from Tom Jones to Motown but remains a self-professed Metal Head to this day.
Graham of DopeEven Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford sings the film's praises. "I loved the way that there were so many larger-than-life characters that just leapt off the screen and they were having the times of their lives," he wrote in "Biblical," his 2022 memoir.
Capturing a Moment
"It captured how [heavy metal] fans looked, dressed, spoke, and thought," he added. Clips from the film were even shown during the band's 2022 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Before "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" became part of the music documentary canon, viewed by millions each year on YouTube and Vimeo, discussed at academic conferences, and even the subject of a year-long exhibit at the University of Maryland's libraries, it started as the marriage of an idea and some easily accessible equipment.
John Heyn went to film school at Northwestern and Jeff Krulik studied English at the University of Maryland. Heyn, a Baltimore native, and Krulik, who grew up in the Maryland suburbs, met in 1985 and became fast friends.
"I loved the way that there were so many larger-than-life characters that just leapt off the screen and they were having the times of their lives."
"We had similar sensibilities and interests," Krulik said. "We both were interested in music, culture, subcultures and eccentricities." He worked as the community television director for a cable company in Prince George's County, Maryland, just to the east of Washington, D.C. His job gave him entrée to public access television cameras and equipment.
"One day, John had this idea that we go videotape heavy metal fans before a concert," Krulik said. "The studio I ran was near the Capital Centre."
At the time, heavy metal was a major subculture among young people across the country, and the next metal act booked to perform at the Capital Centre — home of the NBA Washington Bullets and NHL Washington Capitals — was Judas Priest. At the time, the band had seven consecutive albums certified as gold, platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. (It eventually extended the streak to 11.)
Neither Heyn nor Krulik were metal fans and they didn't even attend the show. They simply paid to park and walked around the lot for two hours on a hot, late Spring Saturday night, taking turns holding the shoebox-sized camera and clunky microphone.
Krulik says it was just dumb luck that they chose to attend a concert by Judas Priest, whose anthemic songs are among metal's most enduring classics. Heyn and Krulik now consider themselves fans of Priest. It was further dumb luck that they ran into the people that they did in such a short film shoot.
Dumb Luck and Smart Editing
"It's a little deceiving in a way because it makes you think there is non-stop chaos and bacchanalia going on in that parking lot but John whittled it down and took the most entertaining, lively footage," Krulik said. Some of the attendees that night weren't even sure who they were going to see. One of the interviewees thought they were there to see the band Metallica.
"People went to concerts, period. It was kind of like a tribal gathering," Krulik said. Writer Craig Giffen, a longtime fan of the film, cataloged the band T-shirts that concert goers wore in "Heavy Metal Parking Lot," finding a significant number of ZZ Top shirts in large part because the group had played the Capital Centre the previous weekend.
After filming, Heyn and Krulik went back to Krulik's office to look at the tapes. Krulik came up with the title that night. Finding a place to show the film was a challenge. Few film festivals in 1986 were equipped to show movies only on videotape. The first screening of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" took place in October 1986 at D.C. Space, a venue that held a monthly event where budding filmmakers could show their work.
Ready to Mothball the Project
Over the next four years, Heyn and Krulik screened "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" on other occasions, including twice at the video-equipped Kennedy Center, home of the American Film Institute. At that point, they were ready to "put it in moth balls."
But the film slowly took on a second life, becoming arguably the first viral video — albeit one spread by copying grainy second- and third-generation videotapes, primarily on the West Coast. A copy of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" became de rigueur on alternative rock tour buses, including those of Nirvana and Sonic Youth.
Los Angeles' Mondo Video, the epicenter of cult video in the 1990s, rented out copies of it to people in the entertainment business. Sofia Coppola rented the film from Mondo and then called up Heyn out of the blue, asking if she could use it for a show on Comedy Central (it never aired).
The sudden enthusiasm for "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" on the West Coast was the product of a college friend of Krulik's named Mike Heath, the film's "Johnny Appleseed."
Nirvana Roadie to the Rescue
"Mike was moving out west and he came by my new job at the Discovery Channel," Krulik recalled. "He tells me he's moving to San Francisco and asks for copies of 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot.'  I ran him off like four or six copies. He got it into people's hands who were well connected, including a roadie of Nirvana's."
"I was a pretty typical suburban heavy metal fan, very awkward at that phase in my life, and I found solace through heavy music and the community around it."
Not long after "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" resurfaced in the mid 90s as a cult classic, the film's directors started hearing from people who appeared in the film.
The first was Jay Hughen, known in the "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" Family as "Alumnus 001." Hughen was part of a group of friends from Reston, Virginia, who appeared in the film. His friend Michelle Jackson characterized Reston as "Mayberry, U.S.A."
"That was senior year of high school, I was a pretty typical suburban heavy metal fan, very awkward at that phase in my life, and I found solace through heavy music and the community around it," Hughen said. He went to shows at the Capital Centre all the time, busing tables at restaurants so he could buy concert tickets.
Discovering Their Celebrity
"I remember being the one that organized the road trips down there almost every time. Every time Iron Maiden or Judas Priest or Deep Purple or somebody rolled into town, we'd go and we'd bring the party with us."
After college, Hughen moved to California and got into the record business, working at A&M Records and later Warner Brothers. Now, he works in the live music business for Nederlander.
"Someone told me in the mid-90s that they just watched this hilarious bootleg film that was a documentary about some kids at a Judas Priest show in Maryland somewhere and it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen," Hughen said.
Hughen, living in Los Angeles at the time, said he attended virtually every D.C.-area Priest show in the '80s and vaguely remembered being filmed. He trekked over to Mondo Video, the natural habitat for just such a film.
"I told the guy behind the counter at Mondo that I think I'm in this video and he thought that was hilarious," Hughen said. "This guy behind the counter at Mondo had apparently turned on a lot of LA subculture to this film in the '90s. His head almost exploded."
"That's one of the first times that I understood that this isn't just a movie. This is a cultural moment that a lot of people know about, so I better embrace this and not be embarrassed by it."
Roughly a year later, Hughen was the guest of honor at a screening of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" and subsequent Q&A session at Mondo Video.
"That's one of the first times that I understood that this isn't just a movie," he said. "This is a cultural moment that a lot of people know about, so I better embrace this and not be embarrassed by it."
He soon learned that Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore was a huge fan of the film and often recited lines from it. After reaching out to Moore, he received a copy of the film and a handwritten note from the Sonic Youth guitarist. A couple of years later, Hughen emailed Heyn and Krulik to let them know that he'd seen their film.
"John still has the original email I sent him," Hughen said. "It says something along the lines of 'Hey man, You have a movie called "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" and I'm in it and I just wanted to say hello.' They had never heard from anyone who was in it."
Hughen's email kickstarted the creation of a community of connected "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" alumni that now numbers nearly 30.
Alumni Reunions
"The internet was very helpful in connecting with our alumni, our family, if you will," Krulik said. The group now holds reunions both in person and online (during the pandemic) to commemorate different anniversaries of the film.
"Zebraman" attended the 30th reunion, finally embracing his Heavy Metal legacy. Graham Owens of "Gram of Dope" fame even wrote a fascinating memoir that piggybacked on his minute of screen time in the film. Sadly, Owens is one of several "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" alums that have died.
Zebraman Holds CourtEileen Zelaya remembers being filmed that warm May afternoon but wasn't aware of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" until years later, when a cousin of her husband called to say he'd seen her in the film. "At first it freaked me out," Zelaya said. "I had to get it myself and see what it was all about."
She thinks she sounds "ridiculous" but has enjoyed being part of the "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" family, viewing it as a window back to the "crazy good times" of the 1980s.
Remarkable Transformation
"Ian Hill, I'm a former bass player, you're an inspiration of mine," yells a smiling, shirtless young man with long hair, striped suspenders, a Star of David necklace and a second necklace bearing his name in Hebrew. That young man is Zev Zalman "Z.Z." Ludwick, one of the film's most fascinating alumni.
Z.Z. was 22 at the time. Back then, he was called Robbie (his English name), managed a pizza shop by day and played bass in a heavy metal band by night. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Holocaust survivors.
ZZ RobbieThough secular at the time, he displayed pride in his background in a manner similar to many of his Christian friends. His parents brought him back the gold Jewish star necklace from a trip they made to Israel.
"I was completely trying to live a decadent lifestyle," Ludwick said, describing himself as under the influence of a variety of substances that evening. When describing himself as a "former bass player," Ludwick meant to say, "fellow bass player."
Z.Z. estimates that he attended between 200 and 300 shows at the Capital Centre.
"I thought I was a stupor-laden idiot. I was sort of embarrassed, but it was funny at the same time. I had no recollection of what I said."
"It was like that several times a month. It was the place to go and it was always packed. We always had that tailgating thing going on. The tailgating was as important as the concert," he said. "They could have shown up at any concert at that time and it would be the same people, same attitude, same everything."
Ludwick's main recollections of the evening include George Lynch, the guitarist for opening act Dokken, having to leave the stage after three songs due to illness. He, too, remembers being cold in the air-conditioned venue and wishing he'd worn a shirt.
A couple of years later, Ludwick learned of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" from a bandmate and saw himself in action at the Capital Centre.
"I thought I was a stupor-laden idiot," he said. "I was sort of embarrassed but it was funny at the same time. I had no recollection of what I said."
Embraces Hasidism
Several years later, Ludwick turned away from the decadent lifestyle. Ludwick embraced Hasidism, a tradition-bound religious movement within Judaism, and gave up the substances that had clouded his life. He apprenticed at a violin shop and became a luthier, a skilled artisan who repairs stringed instruments. Currently, he runs Ludwick's House of Violin in Silver Spring, where he sells, repairs and adjusts stringed instruments.
During the 1990s, he embraced bluegrass music and has played in several bands. He befriended Jeff Krulik and the pair have done several videos documenting his change of direction.
"And I stopped going by Robbie and started going by my Hebrew name, Zev Zalman, but my brother started calling me ZZ. I've been ZZ for the last 15 years or so," he said. "Robbie has left the building. ZZ is a spiritual guy who gets his high now from playing instruments and doing spiritual meditation."
Heavy Metal Spinoffs
Heyn and Krulik worked in the 2000s to further establish the "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" brand. In 2006, "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" received its first official DVD release, which featured a "Where are They Now?" companion documentary, including a brief interaction with a notably sedate "Zebraman," who had settled into a calm, suburban life.
The popularity of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" spawned a short-lived series on cable television station Trio called "Parking Lot" in which Jeff and John produced similar films, talking with Phish and Yanni concert goers, soap opera fans waiting to meet stars outside the Daytime Emmys, and Civil War reenactors.
"Heavy Metal Parking Lot" enjoyed a 30th anniversary screening at the South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas, and a year-long exhibit at the University of Maryland libraries. During the pandemic, Krulik hosted a 35th anniversary "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" Family Reunion on Zoom. Much of the "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" content is available on the movie's website and on Vimeo.
"We're appalled by the language if we're screening it somewhere and we don't give a disclaimer, like at an academic conference."
There have been many more screenings of the film too, including at academic conferences, where scholars attest to the anthropological significance of this 15-minute artifact.
"We're appalled by the language if we're screening it somewhere and we don't give a disclaimer, like at an academic conference," Krulik said.
An Era in American Culture
For a certain group of enthusiasts (me included), "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" has become a regular part of their vocabulary. For a broader audience, the film is shorthand for an increasingly distant but hardly forgotten era in the history of American culture.
"It was a little more free-flowing then, free of blowback," Hughen said of the moment that Krulik and Heyn captured. Certainly, the directors captured what writer Greil Marcus called the "old, weird America," the eerie and ordinary sensibilities of people that have been mediated into obscurity by the understanding that everything people say or do is being recorded.
For those who lived "Heavy Metal Parking Lot," the movie has become a "badge of honor" in Hughen's words.
"I'm really heartened by the fact that so many people relate to it," he added. "It was a cultural snapshot, pre-internet, pre-social media. It was a moment in time that a lot of other people experienced. It has been a great shock but a lot of fun to have people recognize the movie, know it and revere it. I'm proud of its place in a lot of people's hearts and minds."


A Rock Documentary That Won't Die

Clayton Trutor

Lying on my back in the darkness of the Montana prairie, the stars seemingly encompassed me. With no glare from homes or towns, the line blurred between earth and the cosmos, and not to sound like a cliché motivational poster, it truly felt as if I could touch the stars.
Fewer than 80% of United States residents ever see the Milky Way, and with a 2% increase of light pollution encroaching more every year, each generation sees less of the dark skies of our ancestors.I'm spoiled living where I do because experiencing novalunosis, defined as the state of relaxation and wonderment experienced while gazing upon the stars, is a rarity for many. Fewer than 80% of United States residents ever see the Milky Way, and with a 2% increase of light pollution encroaching more every year, each generation sees less of the dark skies of our ancestors. 
It's the one universal factor that spans the history of humanity, no matter our origins, but we're at risk of losing it completely.
The Significance of Night 
"Dark skies are important for a lot of reasons. It's not just the novelty of seeing the stars and the Milky Way," explained Michael Rymer of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). "Birds, bats and a lot of pollinators are dependent upon night skies for navigation. If we interrupt the natural order of migratory patterns, we do ourselves a disservice."
"Dark skies are important for a lot of reasons. It's not just the novelty of seeing the stars and the Milky Way."
Artificial lights illuminating the horizon can make migrating birds think it's still daylight, causing them to fly farther than they should for the day and potentially deplete precious energy reserves. Events, such as the 'Lights Out' initiative in New York, which schedule state buildings to turn off non-essential outdoor lighting at night and encourage others to do the same, reduce interference with migrating birds. Similar measures are enacted in other parts of the country to help sea turtles find their way back to the oceans.
Light pollution is particularly concerning when it comes to certain bats, particularly the little brown bat, which is already a species of concern, because they avoid lighted areas and this cuts their feeding capabilities. We often sit on the picnic table counting the bats flying from the nearby trees. Understanding their importance in the ecosystem and remembering buggy summer evenings makes this particularly troubling news.
Humans are also not immune from the effect of bright nights. Studies indicate that disrupting the natural day and night cycles with artificial light affects our melatonin production, and subsequently, circadian rhythm. The ripple effect impacts our sleep, our immune and endocrine systems, and results in increased risks of depression, diabetes and breast cancer.
It's no surprise some experts recommend camping away from the glittering lights of civilization to reset our systems.
It's no surprise some experts recommend camping away from the glittering lights of civilization to reset our systems. Studies indicate as few as two nights immersed in the light and dark cycles increases melatonin levels and improves sleep, making a weekend camping trip an excellent remedy for a stressful week.
Darkening the Night 
The good news is mitigating light pollution doesn't require the same level of involvement as cleaning up chemical contamination or remediating mine sites to fix the issue.
"Light pollution is the only pollution that can be solved at the speed of light. It requires just a flip of the switch," said Rymer
Because my family cherishes our time sprawled out on a blanket in the backyard during a summer night or even dashing out in the snow to watch the northern lights dance above our heads, doing what we can is of personal importance. 
Instead of an all-night security light, we have motion lights that illuminate around the doors or near the vehicles. And I have to agree with Rymer when, as he pointed out, "If all of a sudden I see my light come on, I pay better attention."

Turn Down the Brightness
Rymer offered additional advice about how to reduce our night impact. "You can make a huge difference at your home," he said. "If it's not a useful light, just turn it off. It's being a good neighbor."
"When we look at it from an economical perspective, a lot of energy is used to light our world," he said. "We do not necessarily want the ground to be dark, too."
Safety is the primary concern, but there's no need to shine light on power lines or trees. He recommended shielding and directing the light downward to illuminate critical areas without allowing the light to escape into the night.
Our eyes readily adjust to different light levels, and we don't have to use the brightest bulbs to light our way. 
Another thing to consider is turning down the brightness whenever possible. Our eyes readily adjust to different light levels, and we don't have to use the brightest bulbs to light our way.
Color synthesis also plays a big role in how light is perceived. According to Rymer, "Warmer colors have a lower light temperature. Warm amber is better for us and wildlife." He noted that bright LEDs, the ones that seemingly peer into your soul, register as a cool bright blue and prove the most problematic when it comes to disrupting our circadian rhythm.
"The only blue light our eyes can distinguish and take in is natural light from the sun," he said.
And, like the motion lights, Rymer recommended utilizing dimmers and timers to reduce overall usage and intensity. "It's environmentally friendly at every step of the way," he noted.
Once your own home is in order, it's time to spread the word with small business, HOAs (Home Owners' Associations) and policy makers in your area. Small steps make a large impact, but it takes time for people to realize the benefits on the economic and environmental stages.
Find Your Dark Skies 
Looking at a night sky map produced by NASA it's easy to see why avoiding light pollution is elusive, but the map is also a guide to discover where to experience a dark sky in all its wonder. Another source is the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) as an internationally recognized steward of the night skies, which offers official designations for areas that meet their stringent guidelines.
In our region, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park recently became the first IDA dark sky designation to straddle national boundaries. Glacier's astronomy program includes the almost nightly star parties at the St. Mary Visitor Center where the Dusty Star observatory and hands-on telescopes wow visitors. Throughout the country, many national and state parks are sound choices for dark skies, and state tourism boards often feature out-of-the-way locations for dark sky enthusiasts.
The night sky is our ancient guidance system, a touchstone to our commonality and an ancient relationship with our Mother Earth.
Looking at the night sky map, eastern Montana features large swaths of blackness where only small towns sporadically dot the landscape. This is one reason I appreciate the American Prairie, a private organization formed to preserve the ever-diminishing grasslands in one of the largest land preserves in the country. Their Wild Sky initiative is part of their focus on protecting the night sky, as well as the landscape. The good news is as awareness increases, more parks throughout the country are stepping up to meet the dark sky requirements and provide opportunities for visitors.
Gazing at the night sky, stories millenniums old speak to us. We meet familiar stars, planets and even constellations as we connect with our sense of place."I think there's a spiritual connection with the natural world," said Rymer.
I have to agree. The night sky is our ancient guidance system, a touchstone to our commonality and an ancient relationship with our Mother Earth. Yet, as stars fade out of sight, it's time to protect our dark skies so future generations may experience this same sense of awe.


Why Dark Skies Matter

Amy Grisak

She's the "Dancing Queen." At 99-years-old, Margaret Masters dances rings around many of those half her age. Masters is the master of her Zumba class, which she participates in twice a week. While she was attending classes at the Metairie, Louisiana Humana Neighborhood Center, Margaret now participates virtually. Neither surgery, nor a pandemic, nor Hurricane Ida can keep her away.  
Masters credits her good health to staying active and positive: "I don't let myself sit down and slow down…you need to move!"   
Her dedication is an inspiration to her fellow dancers and instructor, earning her the well-deserved 2021 SilverSneakers Member of the Year Award.  Those who know Masters describe her as "a wonderful example of growing older actively and graciously," and "one of a kind — with a sassy attitude and zest for life."  
When COVID-19 forced the SilverSneakers classes to go virtual in 2020, Masters didn't miss a beat. The tech-savvy nonagenarian had no problem doing Zumba on Zoom. In fact, she taught her younger friends how to access and use the app so they could keep up their dancing routine. While Masters would have preferred to attend class in person with her dance buddies, there were some advantages doing it from the privacy of her home. "You can do Zumba in your pajamas, and nobody cares," explained Masters.   
Masters had survived more than a year of the pandemic when Hurricane Ida made landfall on August 29, 2021. Her home sustained damage but she luckily stayed safe, riding out the storm at a neighbor's house. In just a few days, she was back in Zumba class thanks to her instructor, Deana Lejarza, using a generator to power her classes and help her students stay virtually connected and healthy. That connection was particularly important given that some class members had to evacuate to neighboring states. 
Not only does Zumba get your heart rate up and is just plain fun, research shows dancing is good for both your physical and mental health. It can significantly improve muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular health, balance and cognitive ability in older adults, and studies have found that it reduces the risk of developing dementia. Dancing to music also releases serotonin, dopamine and endorphins — all natural mood-boosters. 
In addition to Zumba being good for the mind and body, the friendships formed in that class and during other activities at the Humana Neighborhood Center are as important to members' well-being. Masters believes that both dancing and friendship kept many in her class from falling into deep depressions during that very challenging time.
Now that the Humana Neighborhood Center is open again, Masters and her Zumba classmates can attend in-person or have the option of accessing the classes online through the Virtual Neighborhood Centers. In addition to the SilverSneakers Zumba classes, Humana Neighborhood Centers across the country offer special events, programs, activities and lessons such as crafts classes, cooking demos and meditation sessions, to name just a few.    
SilverSneakers classes at the Neighborhood Centers are available to Humana Medicare members whose plans include the SilverSneakers benefit. SilverSneakers classes are also offered at participating gyms and fitness facilities. Many other services offered at the Neighborhood Centers can be used by anyone, including those who are not Humana members, at no cost. Click here to find a Humana Neighborhood Center near you. 
During the upcoming Medicare Annual Election Period, which runs Oct. 15-Dec. 7, 2022, eligible beneficiaries — including individuals ages 65 and over and those living with disabilities — will have the opportunity to sign-up for Medicare Advantage plans that, unlike traditional Medicare, offer benefits that can include access to fitness programs like SilverSneakers or other types of gym memberships.     
Medicare Advantage plans can also help save beneficiaries money. In fact, Medicare Advantage members spent $2,000 less, on average, on healthcare costs than those using traditional Medicare. And they often experience better health outcomes — MA plan members had a 43% lower rate of avoidable hospitalizations and a 48% lower rate of hospitalizations for those with major complex chronic conditions, than those in traditional Medicare.  
For more information about Medicare Advantage plans, eligible individuals can visit www.Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, you can learn about Humana plans, which are recommended by USAA* – a company known for its member satisfaction and commitment to the financial security of current and former members of the U.S. military – by going to www.Humana.com/Medicare or calling 1-888-372-2614 (TTY: 711) to speak with a licensed sales agent from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time, seven days a week. Humana will offer in-person, online, telephone enrollment options and can provide support in 27 different languages. All enrollment options will connect Medicare beneficiaries with a local licensed sales agent.  
Disclaimer 
Humana is a Medicare Advantage [HMO, PPO, and PFFS] organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. 
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99-Year-Old ‘Dancing Queen’ Zumbas Her Way to Good Health

Growing up in a wealthy family in a Chicago suburb, Sally Hindman was expected to be a debutante.
She nixed that idea in her junior year of high school.
Sally Hindman, on left, with two young leaders, Inti Gonzales and Toryanna Finley "I told my mother I didn't want to be presented to society," says 66-year-old Hindman, who recalls a life-changing moment that helped nudge her onto her path as a Quaker minister with a passion for social justice, using art as a transformative spark.
"I told my mother I didn't want to be presented to society." 
"One of the cherished memories of my life was when I was six years old, in first grade," says Hindman. "I came home from school for lunch and our cleaning lady Ida said, 'You gotta watch this. This is going to change history.' She got me to watch Dr. King give his I Have a Dream speech." 
That day, a seed was planted.  
She began to be aware of the dramatic differences in people's lives. Ida's 13-year-old son had been shot by a gang member. Meanwhile, Hindman's mother took her shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue and the family was deciding whether to go to Jamaica for spring break.
Collaborating With Young People 
The seeds of social justice, and compassion for the unhoused and disadvantaged communities, became the guiding force of Hindman's life for 34 years and counting.
That passion led to her current project, a tiny house village for homeless 18-to-24-year-olds that will rise on a vacant acre of land in Richmond, California, 20 miles northeast of San Francisco.
That's where I met Hindman, along with two young people she's mentoring so they can help guide the project. 
Hindman envisioned the imminent transformation of the lot bordered by BART trains, an auto repair shop and busy streets. It will become The Richmond Tiny House Village, Farm and Garden. Along with crops will come the option for culinary training.
Youth Spirit Artworks Tiny House Empowerment Village in OaklandA few orange wildflowers poking through the weeds suggest the promise of this empty parcel.
It's the second tiny house village for young adults spearheaded by Hindman.
The Youth Spirit Artworks Tiny House Empowerment Village that opened in 2021 in Oakland was the first in the nation for homeless young adults ages 18-to-24. It was developed by Youth Spirit Artworks, the nonprofit Hindman founded in Berkeley in 2007. 
The vibrantly painted community provides two years of stability and job training for 22 young people from Oakland and Berkeley.
Gathering Community Support 
It was built with the support of 45 organizations, including churches, synagogues, schools, businesses, community groups and more than 2,000 volunteers.
Now Hindman's organization, Tiny Village Spirit, is partnering with the Richmond Athletic League on the second project. It will house 10 homeless 18-to-24-year-olds from the community and one resident assistant. 
Hindman's knack for gathering support and volunteers, and mentoring youth, continues in high gear.
"Art showed me that a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds can come together to make something amazing." 
She's at the Richmond site with two young people she's encouraged since they showed up at Youth Spirit Artworks years ago as teenagers.
Toryanna Finley, 27, says, "Art showed me that a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds can come together to make something amazing." 
Inti Gonzales, who is 22, found her natural talent for art and design blossom at Youth Spirit Artworks. She became an important part of the two villages.
"I helped with the one-and-a-half-acre ground mural at the Oakland project," says Gonzales. "Now I'm helping with design and painting at the Richmond project." 
A group of 300 young volunteers from the Mormon Temple in Oakland recently began helping with construction of the Richmond village, which is expected to open in mid-2024.
'Getting to Know Others Breeds Compassion' 
"Interfaith" is an essential element for Hindman, personally and professionally. 
Hindman grew up in a Methodist family, but her path led her to Pacific School of Religion to earn a Master of Arts and a Master of Divinity with a concentration in theology and art. Her husband is Jewish and a developer of affordable housing. Hindman is active in the synagogue, as well as the Quaker community. The couple has a 22-year-old adopted daughter who is Roma from Bulgaria.
Hindman is going full tilt as the Richmond village takes shape. Her passion for housing equity continues unabated through the decades. She says she cannot not sit by while some people have multiple homes and cars and others sleep in doorways or under bridges.
"With all deep respect for my family," says Hindman, growing up in the affluent suburb led her to understand many of the dynamics of power, privilege and wealth.
She saw that many wealthy people have no real interaction with disadvantaged communities.
Many people have physical or mental health challenges that just don't allow them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get "that great full-time job." 
"Getting to know others breeds compassion," says Hindman. 
While she credits her parents for being very ambitious and working hard to earn their lifestyle, she says they were of a generation when it seemed easier to "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." 
Many people have physical or mental health challenges that just don't allow them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get "that great full-time job," says Hindman. "They do the best they can," she says, especially with the jaw dropping cost of housing in the San Francisco Bay area. 
She sees the tiny house village as model that can be done in communities across the nation to provide a path forward for young adults who may have been couch surfing or sleeping on cots in temporary shelters for years at a time.
In addition to offering residents stability that allows them to concentrate on making their lives better, the village offers another essential element. 
Hope.
"All the great religions of the world call on us, in one way or another, to focus on loving our neighbor as ourselves," says Hindman. "I think that message means that housing our neighbors is incredibly important."


Quaker Minister Creating a Tiny House Village for Homeless Young Adults

Rhonda J. Miller

Maybe she took pity on me. Maybe it was one of the things about me that made her say "yes" when I proposed.
The first time my fiancée looked inside the fridge in my bachelor apartment, it contained only milk for my morning dry cereal, grapefruit juice, beer and frozen Mexican dinners. Soon I was eating normal meals she cooked for us in her apartment.
On the rare occasions I tried cooking, I quickly became either a sanitation problem or a fire hazard.Not that I had been starving. I ate out a lot, partly because my weird hours as a beginning newspaper reporter encouraged it. The idea of spending time buying groceries and preparing food was about on the level of learning Sanskrit. On the rare occasions I tried cooking, I quickly became either a sanitation problem or a fire hazard.
Most weekday evenings I fix my own dinner, making one of a small cluster of dishes I have quasi-mastered.
But as we get older, priorities can change. What would not have interested us before can become a vital part of our lives.
So fast forward several decades. We are no longer together. Once again, I live in a bachelor apartment, but now the fridge is packed almost to overload, but no frozen Mexican dinners or other microwave candidates.
Dinner Prep as an Emotional Oasis
Most weekday evenings I fix my own dinner, making one of a small cluster of dishes I have quasi-mastered.
It's an emotional oasis.
My favorite jazz is playing on a boom box. The walls are studded with mementoes of the past with a decided Manhattan theme since that's where I grew up, like the days when my younger legs allowed me to march as a balloon carrier in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. A frozen-in-motion shot of Grand Central Station is a favorite.
But most of all, I am happy.
My girlfriend, a career woman who doesn't like to cook although she's quite capable of it, says she never orders her beloved scallops in a restaurant because my recipe is the best she's ever had. (The key in this case happens to be a dollop of sherry when the little critters start to brown. If you like garlic, dice the cloves instead of using pre-minced from a jar).
All told, for more than 50 of my 82 years I was cooked for: Home, college, the Army, marriage. The two bachelor stints, added together, make up the rest.
So, what happened in the almost-30 years between Bachelor Stint I and Bachelor Stint II? Time changed priorities.
It wasn't apparent early on. As soon as I returned to the single life, I started cooking without thinking about it, much as a horse or other large mammal starts to walk immediately after birth.
Not Just a Guy Thing 
One might assume that this sort of cooking epiphany is a guy thing. Perhaps this is true in most cases. But it used to be said of my late Aunt Bernice, a housewife, that "she doesn't cook, she heats." Her husband, Uncle Arthur, and her son, Cousin Michael, survived by putting ketchup on everything.
My recipes? They come pretty much out of my head: Unused manuals with cutesy titles like "Dad's Own Cookbook" gather dust atop the fridge. ( I've never been into re-gifting. Or scrubbing the top of the fridge, for that matter. Cleaning up is no fun but it develops character. I think.)
The bill of fare involves nothing fancy, mostly broiled fish or anything sautéed stovetop. Salads are a must. I don't bake.
The bill of fare involves nothing fancy, mostly broiled fish or anything sautéed stovetop. 
I do get advice from other people but it's pretty much random and from other amateurs. I do use some packaged ingredients. Cooking completely from scratch is for the pros. Or if you want to make it a full-fledged hobby, which I don't.
I would never make my own salad dressing, for example, but find that varieties of aged balsamic vinegar usually serve me quite well most days.
Certainly, I have my limitations. To this day I have never mastered the skill of fondling an unripe peach and sensing whether it will turn delicious or mushy. And if you wanted to determine the age of my utensils, you'd have to carbon date them. I don't own a blender.
The amount of advance planning is minimal, although you need to buy an avocado a day early if you want it for salad. 
Creativity in the Kitchen 
I work about half time as a freelance writer so this makes me have to be a bit more creative in filling the day than when I was a fully employed journalist.
If you wanted to determine the age of my utensils, you'd have to carbon date them. I don't own a blender.
Cooking for yourself is obviously more economical than ordering takeout or going to a restaurant, but I'd rather dwell on its spiritual and aesthetic aspects.
First, it's a chance to spend a bit of time totally focused on an activity involving sight, sound, smell and touch. There might be occasional telephone interruptions but these have been minimized by the arrival of caller ID, which wasn't available during Bachelor I. The ultimate living in the moment.
I like a glass of wine before dinner, but cooking doesn't work when you're soused, which is probably a good thing.
Unlike, say, yoga, it's an activity where the pace is not being determined by anyone else but by the realities of time and physics. There's room for improvisation but no one to lecture you about the need to move out of your comfort zone.
If you have an outdoor grill or camp out — I check neither box — you can bring nature into the picture as an added ingredient.
And, of course, if you've done it right — maybe even come close — there's a very tangible reward at the end.


Cooking for the Newly Single

Paul Jablow

I always thought a special bonding trip with each grandchild was a wonderful idea. Age ten is perfect, the ideal time while they still adore me, can endure travel delays but don't miss their friends too much. 
Then COVID extended the timeline, and all of a sudden, I realized my oldest grandchild had turned eleven. She'll attend middle school soon, so if I'm to cement our bond while the magic of childhood is relatively intact, I needed to get moving. I developed a tentative trip, then asked for her parents' blessing.
Having a great time while traveling with children takes planning, awareness and communication.Mandy (not her real name) was thrilled at the idea of visiting Washington, D.C. We'll tour the nation's capital, then spend time with my family in Maryland. Her eyes widened when I mentioned the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. Mandy leaned forward and squeaked, "We studied the national monuments at school!"
Working out, some downtime and morning coffee are important to me, whereas Mandy wants lots of pictures of monuments.
Having a great time while traveling with children takes planning, awareness and communication. Consider the following tips to help produce a trip that is fun and rewarding for both generations.
Tips for a Successful Trip 
Planning is part of the fun. Set the travel date early. I was surprised at how much of her summer was already blocked off by March, and glad we found a time that worked for both of us. Mandy immediately told her friends about the trip; clearly she was excited. I told her we'd start with the Hop-on Hop-off bus, since it would allow us to see the hot spots and spend time exploring what interests us most. This flexibility is perfect, since we can decide what we want to do while there.
Mandy and I got together to brainstorm questions and the top three things she wanted to do on the trip, then we reserved the flight together. I'll book a hotel, then wait a month or so before our next planning session.
Take individual desires into account. Working out, some downtime and morning coffee are important to me, whereas Mandy wants lots of pictures of monuments. I'm trying to take energy level, attention span and safety into account for both of us. 
I'm a fan of lists, and will rely on our top three to five things when planning and traveling. This will help me remember that pictures are among her top three desires, so I'll remain patient while she strives for ten perfect Reflecting Pool photos.
I might even list what I want to avoid. I'm not a fan of long lines, so I'll plan outings to avoid crowds. If my plans don't work, we might pass the Smithsonian line and return later in the day. We'll take Mandy's dislikes into account as well. The dislikes conversation can branch into a discussion of concerns, which is also a great conversation to have.
The author and her granddaughterMake lists. I'll create a packing list with Mandy. It's easy to mark items off as they go into the suitcase, and this will ensure we take everything we need. When I mentioned ponchos as a great summer option, none of my grandchildren knew what I was talking about. We marched down the hall to the utility closet where I unfolded a lightweight orange poncho. 
The younger two loved it, but Mandy said she'd rather carry an umbrella.  (I'll pack an extra poncho but keep in mind she is old enough to select fashion over getting wet.)
Discuss limits. I'll find out what parental rules regarding electronics (screen time, social media, texts, calls) will be in place during our trip. I told Mandy that D.C. is different than our small town, so we'll need to stay together while traveling. I asked her to gather friends' addresses so she can send postcards. Mandy says she knows about postcards, but I imagine addressing one will lead to a wide-eyed conversation about how we did things "in the old days." I'll ask her to pack downtime activities like reading, drawing or journaling to engage her while flying or in the evenings.
Attend to siblings. Mandy's siblings will be disappointed when they discover they're missing a trip and airplane ride, so we are trying to soften the blow. Of course, I'll take each sibling on a fun trip when they turn ten or eleven. Mandy and I hold our planning sessions while the siblings are busy with other activities. Mandy's parents will take the siblings on an outing while we are gone and Mandy will return with a fun gift for each of them.
Be prepared. Make sure you know about allergies and medication for your grandchild. TSA doesn't require identification for children under 18, but suggests checking with individual airlines. Keep in mind that if you are flying with a child that looks 18 (or age your airline considers as "adult"), you might need to prove their age, so it is a good idea to have legal ID or a birth certificate on hand. I plan to carry a signed medical release form so I don't have to wait for parental permission in case of emergency.
My goal is to say "yes" to every one of her requests, without running out of time, money or energy. 
Have Fun. I hope to pack in as many treats, views and experiences as possible. My goal is to say "yes" to every one of her requests, without running out of time, money or energy.  Who knows, I may end up with a lifelong travel companion!
Strengthening Our Relationship
In addition to fun, I consider this trip (as well as other methods of reaching out and connecting) to be mental health insurance. The teen years can be extremely tough. When, sometime in the future, Mandy feels lonely, excluded or unworthy, I hope she'll remember that no matter what, her grandparents love her. 
While her grandfather won't join us on this trip, she can count on him to make silly faces, tell ridiculous Dad jokes, and be incredibly patient and kind. I'll always listen, cook healthy meals, and spend time with them. All these actions translate to love, something grandparents excel at.


How to Plan a Fun Summer Trip With Your Grandchild

Carol Morgan Milberger

As aging World War II veteran Johnnie Ray Toland started showing signs of Alzheimer's, his family began searching for an assisted living home to care for him. Staff members at one home introduced the family to Tammi Palasini.
Veterans and military families are nearly 40% more likely to lose money to scams and fraud than civilians, according to a November 2021 AARP surveyPalasini, who would later be sentenced to 20 years behind bars for various crimes, including fraud, convinced the Toland family to give her control of $340,000 of their funds.
Aid and Assistance Scam
In what is known as an "aid and assistance scam," Palasini falsely promised the Toland family that she would help diversify their father's assets to get beneath the threshold to qualify for VA benefits and earn a return on their investment.
It wasn't until after Toland's death three years later that the family learned Palasini was a scam artist who had victimized them and their father.
On the same day as Toland's funeral, a postal inspector contacted the victim's son, Jimmy, and told him of Palasini's fraudulent schemes, revealing that on the same day they gave Palasini control of the $340,000, she used their money to purchase a race car and advertising for her son.
Millions and Millions Go Missing
Palasini scammed 78 veterans out of more than $2 million in assets through various means, including her fraudulent investment company, "Veterans' Pension Planners of America." Sadly, scam artists commonly single out older veterans like Toland.
Veterans and military families are nearly 40% more likely to lose money to scams and fraud than civilians.
About 2.4 million Americans filed fraud complaints with the Federal Trade Commission last year, reporting aggregate losses of nearly $8.8 billion. That was an increase of more than 30% over the previous year, the commission said.
According to a November 2021 AARP survey, veterans and military families are nearly 40% more likely to lose money to scams and fraud than civilians. The FTC's Consumer Sentinel consumer complaint database received over 200,000 complaints from military consumers in 2021 alone, with reported losses exceeding $267 million.
The oldest of America's 19 million veterans are at the highest risk. In most cases, phone scammers targeted veterans by warning of impending issues with their VA benefits.
Thankfully, awareness of the scams that target older veterans is growing, as indicated by the rise of new educational resources such as the AARP Veterans Fraud Center and the United States Postal Inspection Service's Operation Protect Veterans.
Tips for Older Veterans and Their Families
Being the victim of a scam is traumatic, leaving vets or their families feeling vulnerable and even helpless. But you can fight back and protect yourself by watching for signs of scams and acting quickly.
• Be aware of the prevalence of scams
Often scammers will pose as your financial provider. Know that any calls, texts or emails from your bank that say your account is at risk or flag an emergency could be fraudulent.
"My rule of thumb is don't take the call, make the call," said Mike Steinbach, Head of Global Fraud Prevention at Citi. "Pick up the phone and call the phone number listed on your credit card, debit card or monthly financial statement to confirm whether the request is legitimate."
"My rule of thumb is don't take the call, make the call." 
Scammers often create a false sense of urgency to pressure you to comply with their demands before you can independently confirm whether they are telling the truth. If someone contacts you and pressures you with time constraints to hand over sensitive information like your Social Security number or credit card details, it's usually bogus.
"Your gut is your most valuable resource and your first line of defense," Steinbach said. "If something seems wrong, keep your personal information private."
• 'Vet' those who claim to represent veterans
Many scammers falsely claim to represent non-profit veterans' organizations or even the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and try to scare veterans by claiming you could face legal action unless you provide your Veteran Health Identification Card ID or other sensitive information.
According to the Postal Inspection Service, veterans are exceptionally vulnerable to scams where the culprit poses as a military member. Due to their military experiences, some veterans may find it hard to detect the emotional manipulation these scam artists deploy on their victims.
"Your first step is to immediately call the government agency via their official hotline — not the number that called you — to confirm whether the request is legitimate," Steinbach said.
• Set up mobile banking app alerts and banking statements
Steve Lee's parents, who are in their mid-80s, were contacted during the holidays by organizations claiming to represent police, firefighters and veterans. Lee's mother and father, who served in the Ohio National Guard, gave their credit card number to legitimate-sounding telemarketers and lost $705 in 17 different transactions within three weeks.
"The sooner you spot potentially fraudulent activity, the sooner you can work to address and resolve it." 
Lee and his parents called their bank's debit card fraud control to comb through each transaction and issue a new card. The couple also purchased a call blocker for the landline that only allows calls from numbers permitted on an app synced with their mobile contacts.
"The sooner you spot potentially fraudulent activity, the sooner you can work to address and resolve it," Steinbach said. "Take advantage of technology that tracks your accounts and purchases in real-time. Sign up for push alerts from your bank, and regularly check your statements online."
If you or a loved one feel like you could be at risk for bank or credit card fraud, consider a finance management app like EverSafe, which oversees your bank account and credit card to track and flag irregularities.
Apps like EverSafe are designed with older adults in mind and even have a "trusted advocate" tool that gives adult children of aging parents and other trusted caregivers access to monitor the account's activity.
No matter their age, men and women who have served this country deserve to retire secure in the knowledge that their life savings are safe.


Scam Artists Target Older Vets

Rachel Leland

In 2012, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, an award-winning Ugandan wildlife veterinarian, received a frantic telephone call from the chief warden of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
A playful baby gorilla interacts with an older family member.He told her that Ruhondeza, the 48-year old Silverback leader of the first gorilla group to be habituated for tourism, was spotted alone in a community garden outside the forest. Gorillas that stray into villages are susceptible to human diseases and may destroy cultivated crops.
The warden asked if she would oversee the effort to move the older ape back into the park.
Kalema-Zikusoka was more than eager and more than qualified to save the gorilla. She won the 2022 Edinburgh Medal acknowledging her significant contribution to the understanding and well-being of humanity. In 2021, she was selected as a United Nations Champion of the Earth, and since 2017, a National Geographic Explorer.
Veterinarian Superstar
Kalema-Zikusoka and her team rushed to the scene. Carrying darting gear to tranquilize the ape, they hiked across the hilly farmland for 45 minutes until they found him hiding behind a bush, chewing banana leaves.
"He appeared calm, safer in this community of humans than in his forest home." 
"He appeared calm, safer in this community of humans than in his forest home," Kalema-Zikusoka writes in her memoir, "Walking with Gorillas: The Journey of an African Wildlife Vet." He had only days left to live in his fragile state, but she feared returning him to the forest would make him easy prey to territorial silverbacks.
Uganda's most famous eco-hero you may have never heard of, Dr. Gladys, as she is known locally, is to Bwindi what Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and Biruté Galdikas were to primates in Rwanda, Tanzania and Borneo, respectively.
Her story has attracted more attention as we approach September 24, International Gorilla Day.
She has been featured on numerous wildlife documentaries, such as "Gladys, the African Vet." I read her memoir last May, before leaving on my third trip to Bwindi to trek for gorillas and explore the cultural scene, shop for crafts, take a traditional dance class and go on nature walks to support the local economy.
Inspired by Goodall and Galdikas
While studying at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Kalema-Zikusoka attended lectures by Goodall and Galdikas, later writing that the two women "inspired and encouraged me to follow my dreams." In the foreword to Kalema-Zikusoka's book, Goodall noted that both had a childhood passion for animals and supportive mothers. Goodall also honors Kalema-Zikusoka for overcoming personal and professional hurdles to protect endangered species. 
Dr. Gladys Kalema Zikusoka, founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public HealthBorn in 1970, the youngest of six children, Kalema-Zikusoka grew up during General Idi Amin's murderous regime. Her family home was filled with pets to try to assuage the grim times.
In 1972, soldiers abducted and killed her father, William Wilberforce Kalema, who had served as a senior cabinet minister in Uganda's first parliament after the country achieved independence from the British in 1962. "I have always seen my career as a way to continue his legacy, protecting the precious wealth and heritage of Uganda," she writes.
At 12, she decided to become a vet. While volunteering at the Wildlife Club of Uganda in 1987, a park warden confirmed that mountain gorillas were found to be living in what was then the Bwindi Forest Reserve, a 128-square-mile rainforest about twice the size of Washington, D.C. One of the most biodiverse forests in East Africa, it contains an estimated 324 species of trees, at least 120 species of mammals and 350 documented species of birds.
"You can't address animal health and the environment without attending to human health."
Bwindi's evidence as the world's second mountain gorilla habitat hastened its designation as a National Park in 1991 and a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 1994.
In 1996, six months into her job setting up a veterinary unit with the Uganda national parks and becoming the first Ugandan wildlife vet, at age 26, Kalema-Zikusoka experienced a breakthrough moment.
While treating a gorilla family infested with scabies from exposure to human sewage and dirty clothing outside the park, she realized, "You can't address animal health and the environment without attending to human health."
Indeed, poaching, habitat loss, deforestation and disease had threatened to wipe out the Bwindi mountain gorilla population in the late 1990s. Estimates of their population fell to 300, low enough that the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the subspecies "critically endangered."
Kalema-Zikusoka believed a "One Health" approach was necessary to protect the gorillas by improving the health of the local community and environment. To that end, she founded the nonprofit Conservation Through Public Health in September 2003 and appointed her husband, Lawrence, as treasurer. He was a Ugandan telecoms expert she met in graduate school in North Carolina and donated the first $100 to the organization.
On a Zoom call from her home in Entebbe, Uganda, which she shares with Zikusoka and their two teenaged sons, she used the 20th anniversary of the nonprofit to consider its accomplishments and remaining goals.
20 Years of Progress
"At the beginning, everyone thought it was weird," she recalled, "One Health was a relatively unknown concept when I started advocating for, and implementing, an integrated approach to conservation and health." Donors at the time focused on either conservation or health. Not both.
Their skepticism ignited her determination. She allied herself to the residents living alongside the park, introducing Village Health and Conservation Teams to administer public health and counsel households on sanitation and hygiene.
She formed the group, Human and Gorilla Conflict Volunteers, affectionately referred to as HUGOs, to herd stray gorilla groups back into the parks.  
She formed the group, Human and Gorilla Conflict Volunteers, affectionately referred to as HUGOs, to herd stray gorilla groups back into the parks. She initiated a treatment program against tuberculosis and established a community based-family planning program that encourages population management.
When Kalema-Zikusoka and her team tracked down Ruhondeza, the mischievous gorilla, and concluded he was too frail to return to the forest, she took her concerns to the Village Health and Conservation Team. She reminded the team that the silverback's gentle nature helped his gorilla group, the Mubare, to be the first to habituate to the presence of humans in Bwindi, launching gorilla tourism there in 1993.
A Hero's Funeral 
Thanks to him, their lives and futures had improved. When their own elders grew old, didn't they take care of them? They agreed to allow the declining ape live out his remaining days in their fields. When he died, more than 100 community members gave him a hero's funeral.
"The kindness and willingness to tolerate Ruhondeza, signified the extent to which conservation efforts had improved in Bwindi," Kalema-Zikusoka wrote. "Genuine friendship between people and wild animals was indeed possible."
Gorilla expressions and gestures can be astonishingly human. Staring in their eyes can feel like a mirror to ourselves in a parallel world.I trekked the legendary Mubare group in January 2020. After Ruhondeza's death, his 17-year-old silverback son, Kanyonyi, who Kalema-Zikusoka had known since he was a baby in her early years as a vet, resumed the leadership of the family. He cut a charismatic figure and was known to "deliberately set out to frighten tourists to see their reaction — his idea of humor," she said.
A New Leader for the Clan
Just five years into his role, Kanyonyi developed an infection after falling off a tree. While being treated with antibiotics, he got into a fight with a competing silverback and died from his wounds in 2017.
Maraya, a habituated, lone silverback, took control of the group and remains their silverback leader today. The stories behind these gorilla groups become narratives, as compelling as human family histories.
COVID-19 closed the park for six months in 2020 — a serious blow to Uganda. Tourism and travel account for 7.7% of the country's economy and more than 60% of the budget of the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, which helps conserve other, less-visited parks, Kalema-Zikusoka said. Travel and tourism employ about 700,000 jobs in Uganda, which has a work force of 18 million.
Poaching Rose as Tourism Fell
"Poaching bush pigs and duikers, a small antelope, for subsistence increased drastically when tourism disappeared," Kalema-Zikusoka said. Without the daily activities of tourism, hunters felt comfortable entering the park and setting traps, which can maim and kill gorillas. In June, a poacher startled the leader of a gorilla group, causing it to roar in his family's defense. The illegal hunter lunged at the silverback with a spear, killing it.
Greater security and protective safeguards were implemented for the gorillas. "My team never rested," recalled the vet. Considered essential workers, they trained rangers, gorilla guardians and village health and conservation teams on mask wearing, social distancing and detecting COVID in gorillas.
Sgt. Head Guide Augustine Muhangi, a guide for the Habituation Experience, an adventurous, all-day, hike through the forest.They tested the park's staff and analyzed gorillas' feces. "I told my team when the pandemic ends, we're all going to take a month off," Kalema-Zikusoka said. "It's never really ended."
Sgt. Head Guide Augustine Muhangi led my "habituation experience," where guests spend four hours observing a gorilla group that is undergoing the two-year process of adjusting to the presence of humans. He is 45 years old, grew up in Higabiro Village next to the park and has worked for the Uganda Wildlife Authority for 20 years. 
Benefits of Tourism
He still lives in Higabiro Village with his wife, a schoolteacher, and their three children. "Gorilla tourism has improved my village," he said by email, listing improvements in education, infrastructure and health care. During COVID, he wrote, "gorilla monitoring and protection intensified, and we worked day and night to ensure 100% protection of the mountain gorillas from poachers and COVID-19." There is no evidence that any of Bwindi's mountain gorillas caught the virus.
"Gorilla tourism has improved my village."
COVID-19 revealed the Bwindi community's dependency on tourism. "We discovered we needed other ways to support the people living next to the park," Kalema-Zikusoka explained. She wasted no time. Conservation Through Public Health 's Ready to Grow Gardens program supplied low-maintenance seedlings, harvestable within one to four months, to over 1,500 food-insecure households, prioritizing residents most likely to turn to poaching out of desperation.
In 2015, Kalema-Zikusoka had created a global, for-profit company, called "Gorilla Conservation Coffee" in response to the low prices farmers received for their beans. The award-winning enterprise pays a premium price to over 500 coffee growers, 120 of whom are women who live next to the national park. Enterprises such as this can help sustain the Bwindi community during low tourist turnouts, she believes.
The Face of Conservation Coffee
A portion of coffee sales go toward saving mountain gorillas. The image of Kanyonyi, the Mubare gorilla family's lead silverback , remains on the brand, though he died in 2017. Kalema-Zikusoka explains: "His individual story helps tell the larger story about how helping communities that share a habitat with critically endangered gorillas can prevent them from becoming extinct."
Shida, 32, the oldest member of the Mishaya gorilla group, which ranges in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, fills up on leaves, stems and roots for nourishment and hydration.The last census, in 2018, revealed a rise to about 459 mountain gorillas in Bwindi; adding 604 in the Virunga National Park brings the total to 1,063. That year, the IUCN reclassified the mountain gorilla to "endangered," making it the only gorilla sub-species whose population is growing. Kalema-Zikusoka estimates today's Bwindi count at about 500, with 24 habituated groups.
"I'm very excited that since I first started working, the numbers have almost doubled," she said.
And so it seems certain, that walking with gorillas and caring for them is key to helping the people who live alongside them.


Gorillas in Our Midst

Giannella M. Garrett

Gary Pennington had to learn a whole new way of life. For starters, he was confronted with a digital world that had evolved light years beyond the pagers and pocket calculators commonplace in his day. He had to navigate the complex world of health care and regain the trust of certain family members who had shunned him.
Gary PenningtonBut among the most difficult adjustments, he says, was learning to be among people without having to figure out who might kill you.
Pennington, 66, is among the population of older people who struggle to find their way upon release from decades-long prison terms. They went in when they were young, many sentenced to life for violent crimes. Some were imprisoned when three strikes laws and mandatory minimum sentencing were used as ways to crack down on crime.
Particular issues include "greater rates of homelessness, low employment, increased anxiety, fragmented community and family ties, chronic medical conditions and increased mortality rates."
And when they are released decades later, they face a world of complicated issues that simply don't affect their younger counterparts.
"While reentry (into society) is full of challenges for most individuals of all ages returning from prison, older adults face additional obstacles and heightened complexities," says a study by the Osborne Association, a New York-based nonprofit that provides services to people who have been incarcerated.
The Challenge of Reentry 
Particular issues include "greater rates of homelessness, low employment, increased anxiety, fragmented community and family ties, chronic medical conditions and increased mortality rates," the study says.
Pennington went to prison in 1978 when he was 21, sentenced to life for first-degree murder. He was paroled in 2011 at the age of 54, after serving his time in Oklahoma prisons. He moved to New Mexico upon release so he could live with his sister. But other family members were ashamed of him, and he still has one young relative with whom he's never spoken.
As for the fear of being killed at any moment, Pennington explains it this way: "I've had to change a lot of my behavior. I'd go to the mall and make eye contact with every person in there, because in prison, you do that to see who's angry, who's carrying weapons, who you talk to, who you don't. So, I scan the faces of every person at the mall, more than I would do any shopping."
When James Humiston got out of prison in New Mexico three years ago, he had a check for $360 but couldn't cash it because he didn't have proper ID and no checking or savings accounts.
James HumistonAt 68, Humiston was assigned to a halfway house, where he got help applying for benefits and finding a landscaping job at an Albuquerque golf course. Like many who have been locked up for decades, he had to find medical care and insurance for his health, which had sharply declined over the years.
In fact, experts consider someone who turns 50 after years of incarceration as "physiologically, more like a 60- or 65-year-old," says Laura Roan, program director of Osborne's Elder Reentry Initiative.
"That's what trauma, that's what violence, that's what poor nutrition, that's what racism will do to your body. And sometimes that's what the life before prison has done, or before prison plus prison," she notes.
The average age of death in New York prisons, for example, is 58, Roan says. Nationwide, people 50 and older are the fastest growing demographic in prison, partly because of the long sentences they are serving, according to Osborne. By 2030, one-third of all people incarcerated will be older, a whopping 4,400 % increase over 50 years.
Finding Housing 
For those getting out, Roan says one of the biggest issues is housing, because older people often return with little money and few connections. Friends are long gone and family members have died. That means they can become homeless or forced into a homeless shelter, which is a difficult environment that is not equipped to meet their needs.
"I was so scared. It's like the whole world is looking at you."
"Housing is a pretty awful situation for most people," she says. "I think, from what I've heard, that's common across the nation, as well."
Evelyn James found that to be true upon release from a Texas federal prison last summer. James' near-death experience with COVID resulted in her winning "compassionate release" after serving 15 years of a 25-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter.
James, 63, didn't want to return to her Navajo Nation home because she feared being judged by those who knew her. Instead, she headed for a halfway house in Albuquerque, where she had no relatives and knew few people.
She found everything frightening, from riding the bus to learning the mysteries of a smartphone. "I didn't want to go anywhere," James says. "I was so scared. It's like the whole world is looking at you."
James was fortunate in finding the New Mexico Reentry Center and director Natasha Garcia, who helped her use a computer to apply for benefits and to find a job in a world where everything is done with skills that James sorely lacked.
James is now preparing to move into her own apartment, after overcoming deep reservations about living alone. Her husband died while she was behind bars, and her adult children are spread across the country.
"You hear about women living by themselves and getting attacked. I was thinking I would have to stay awake all night long. But people were telling me, 'You need to spread your wings. You can do it. You're strong.'"
Landing a Job 
The Osborne Association's approach to elder reentry is somewhat unusual in that it starts while the person is still behind bars. A representative determines what will be needed in terms of housing — including possible nursing home care — vocational training, medical care and a host of other issues.
The person is coached on preparing for parole consideration and release, with a plan for ongoing care outside prison.
The point, says Roan, is "having … somebody who can go inside to determine what's going on for you and then not have you land in the community with $40 and no plan. That's the worst-case scenario."
Many will need work to support themselves. While they can apply for certain benefits, their Social Security checks are bound to be minimal because of the number of years they have been locked up.
"They might have been working in prison the entire time and still be making 17 cents an hour," Roan says. "But they've not paid a cent into Social Security that entire time. So they don't have any choice, some of them, but to come back and work."
"After living so many years with a limited amount of clothes and shoes, I just can't stand to ruin a good pair of shoes."
Others want to be employed because, as Roan says, "they still feel that they have many productive years left to give back to society, and they want to be engaged."
For Pennington, that meant starting a handyman business, based on a business plan he wrote during his prison years. He now has 400 customers and has just hired his first employee.
"I tell people I'll do anything — plumbing, bricklaying, carpentry — but I don't paint," he says. "Paint is too stressful. After living so many years with a limited amount of clothes and shoes, I just can't stand to ruin a good pair of shoes."
'A World That Has Moved On' 
A sense of utter dislocation upon returning to a world that has moved on is hard for outsiders to understand.
Roan describes it as a distinct "identity shift," in which the newly released person must figure out who they are now. She learned this during a shopping trip she took with an older man to buy him clothing. The store had two types of boxer shorts: striped and solid. The man couldn't decide which he wanted, but a coin flip chose for him: solids.
However, upon approaching the cashier, he said, "Miss Laura, do you think we can get the stripes instead? In prison, we couldn't have stripes because they weren't allowed. I want stripes."
It was then that Roan realized the deep disconnection caused by a near-lifetime in prison and how long it might take for someone to adjust.
"Before, he made the prison choice because he had to, but now he's making the anti-choice," she says."Someday, he's going to make his choice."


Post-Prison Life: The Struggle for Older Adults

Ellen Marks

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